4 Ways to Remove Uncertainty From Your Job Search

Dealing with uncertainty during a job search is a feeling many experience.

Continue Reading Below

We’ve all been there. Waiting to hear back from a recruiter or sitting by the phone waiting for the results of an interview can be some of the most nerve-wracking moments of your job search, In fact, 92% of adults fear something about the job interview process. Whether it’s landing the interview or knowing exactly what to say during it, many job seekers feel uneasy when it comes to finding a job.

What many job seekers don’t want to accept is the fact that we need to take some risks throughout our careers. These risks can be taking a job you wouldn’t have expected or even starting a freelance career. Whatever has you feeling uneasy during your job search, here are some thoughts to consider to help you feel more calm and less stressed about your job search:

When you stress about tomorrow, you’re taking away from today’s opportunities.

It’s normal to feel stressed about waiting for callbacks or emails from recruiters. However, you cannot allow this stress to consume your life. Sometimes, when we’re so worried about what will happen tomorrow, next week, or in the next five years, we forget about the events that are happening today. Don’t allow yourself to become consumed by the stress of your job search. To help you stay focused on the present, spend time networking, take a class, and attend workshops. If you can keep yourself busy when looking for jobs, new opportunities could enter into your life.

During your job search, you need to allow yourself to open up.

Advertisement

Today, you could receive an unexpected phone call about a job opening across the country — and they’re hiring immediately. If something like this happens, you have to able to take a step back and consider your situation. You never know when new opportunity will come to your life and even change your career path for the best. You have to be willing to consider your options and see where they take you.

You can’t plan for everything.

The further you are in your career, the more you’ll realize that you can’t always plan ahead. While it’s nice to have an exact plan for the next five years, you need to allow some room for change and opportunity. The key to coping with uncertainty is accepting the fact that there will always be uncertainty. No one, not even you, can predict where your career will take you in the next five years. While it’s good to have some goals created for your future, you also need to allow some wiggle room for those goals to change.

Remember, you do havecontrol of your career.

Many job seekers see their job search as a one-way street when it comes to applying for positions and attending interviews. But a major part of your job search is knowing if you want the job or not. You may think the interviewer or employer has complete control of your career decisions, but they don’t. During your job search, you need to take control of your career in order to regain confidence as a job seeker. This will help you make better decisions and discover which path is the best for you.

Although having patience during your job search can seem daunting, sometimes you have to be willing to face uncertainty. When it comes to landing a job (and even taking some risks to land that job), you have to be willing to deal with the unknown. Throughout your career there will be times when you feel confident and times where you question every decision you make. But when it comes down to it, you just have to have faith that you will succeed in reaching your career goals.